Injuries and illness didn’t help Ducks defenseman Sami Vatanen last season. His numbers plummeted to three goals and 24 points after consecutive seasons of 12 goals and 37 points and nine goals and 38 points. (Photo by Kevin Sullivan, Orange County Register/SCNG)

TAMPA, Fla. – More reinforcements will arrive for the Ducks at the close of their road trip as they set to take on the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night at Amalie Arena.

Sami Vatanen is expected to make his season debut. Vatanen missed the first nine games as the defenseman has worked to come back from labrum surgery on his right shoulder in May. The sixth-year veteran is coming off a down 2016-17 season where his three goals and 21 assists were a falloff from the two previous seasons.

Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said he figured Vatanen would either play against the Lightning or Sunday in Carolina as long as Vatanen told him he was ready. Vatanen took regular rushes with Jaycob Megna on the third defensive pairing as the Ducks (4-4-1) went through a full morning skate following a day off.

“It’s never fun to watch the games in the stands,” Vatanen said. “Just skating out there by yourself, it’s never fun. You want to be on the ice and help the team win the games. I’m waiting for it.”

The Ducks got Hampus Lindholm back on Tuesday in Philadelphia and the timing of his return with Vatanen is a fortuitous one. Cam Fowler (knee) will be out for three more weeks at the very least and Kevin Bieksa (hand) will be sidelined for an undetermined period.

“We never expected that we were going to be this – I don’t know if you say short-staffed – but this undermanned in certain situations,” Carlyle said. “When we have depth at that position, it just proves out that you can never have enough quality players. Simple as that.

“Quality players are a necessity for you to have long-term success. We know everybody’s going to have to deal with injuries at some point through the year. And our time is right now. Hopefully we can flush this all and get through this situation and move on.”

John Gibson (4-3-1, 3.03 GAA, .916 SV%) will make his 10th consecutive start to open the season and he’ll have Ryan Miller as his backup for the first time. Miller has been sidelined with a wrist injury since the latter part of the preseason but was activated from injured reserve Saturday.

Miller could make his official Ducks debut on Sunday in Carolina when the Ducks take on the Hurricanes. The 37-year-old could get some work in the upcoming weeks as they’ll have their first four sets of games on back-to-back nights.

“I’m getting a little anxious now,” he said. “We’ll be right into a heavy mix of games. Just trying to get back in the mix and settle in.”

Kalle Kossila has recorded firsts with his assist on Brandon Montour’s goal in Philadelphia and his goal in Florida but it appears that he’ll sit out against the Lightning, with Dennis Rasmussen will drawing back in after being scratched for two straight. Rasmussen scored his first goal with the Ducks last week against Montreal.

Here is the projected lineup for the Ducks:

Rickard Rakell-Ryan Getzlaf-Corey Perry

Andrew Cogliano-Antoine Vermette-Jakob Silfverberg

Nick Ritchie-Derek Grant-Ondrej Kase

Chris Wagner-Dennis Rasmussen-Logan Shaw

Hampus Lindholm-Josh Manson

Francois Beauchemin-Brandon Montour

Jaycob Megna-Sami Vatanen

Having captain Steven Stamkos back in the lineup as an offensive force with premier goal scorer Nikita Kucherov has the Lightning (9-1-1) off to the best start in franchise history.

Stamkos missed most of 2016-17 due to a knee injury and his long absence is one large reason why Tampa Bay missed the playoffs last season after making deep postseason runs the two years prior.

The return of Stamkos and his teaming with Kucherov has produced a historic start for the duo. Each has scored a point in all 11 games, tying Martin St. Louis for the franchise’s longest season opening point streak. Seven other pairs in league history have done so in the season’s first 11 contests.

Kucherov has four goals in his last three games and his 12 in all have overtaken Washington’s Alex Ovechkin for the NHL lead. Stamkos has 17 assists among his league-best 21 points.

The two are at the top of a deep forward lineup that has the Lightning back among the elite teams in the Eastern Conference. After the Ducks’ 8-3 loss to Florida, Andrew Cogliano said, “I think if we play like that against them, it could get real ugly.”

“There’s a couple of different ways that we have to approach it,” Carlyle said. “The first one is I don’t think we can be as generous with our turnovers in the neutral ice as we were in our last outing or we’re going to be on the receiving end of the offensive prowess that those two players bring night in, night out.

“The best defense for those type of players is to force them to play in their own zone. If you can do that, you can limit their number of chances.”

The Ducks must also limit their trips to the penalty box. They are the most penalized team in the NHL in terms of average time (nearly 16 minutes) and their 46 minors taken are tied for seventh-most with Washington. And Tampa Bay has been deadly on the power play with 14 goals in 45 chances.

“We can’t be taking penalty after penalty after penalty,” Carlyle said. “No team in the league can do that, specifically on the road, and have success.”

The Ducks could catch a break in getting backup Peter Budaj (0-0-1, 3.69 GAA, .882 SV%) in goal instead of Andrei Vasilevskiy. Vasilevskiy has won his last eight starts and has allowed only seven goals in his last six outings. Budaj has a 5-9-3 career record against the Ducks with a 2.77 goals-against average.

Lightning coach Jon Cooper often goes with a seven-defenseman lineup and that could see Slater Koekkoek coming back in. Cooper often rotates a different winger with Alex Killorn and Tyler Johnson.

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